Bag construction



June 27, 1967 c. E. COKER BAG CONSTRUCTION 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 25, 1965 INVENTOR. CALVIN E. COKER z mall" L FIG.

A TTOR/VE Y5 June 27, 1967 "c. E. COKER BAG CONSTRUCTION 3 Sheets-Sheet Filed July 23, 1965 INVENTOR. CALVIN E. COKER awn, m 1M ATTORNE Y5 June 27, 1967 c. E. COKE R BAG CONSTRUCTION 5 heets$heet 3 Filed July 23, 1965 m T m V m CALVIN E. COKER M, M W

ATTOP/V'YS United States Patent 3,327,925 BAG CDNSTRUCTION Galvin E. Coker, East Palatka, Fla, assignor to Hudson Pulp & Paper Corp, Augusta, Maine, a corporation of Maine Filed July 23, 1965, Ser. No. 474,228 Claims. (Cl. 229-625) The present invention relates to bags and more particularly to improvements in bags of the type used for packaging bulk material such as cement, fertilizer, grain, feed, flour and the like, to facilitate dispensing the contents thereof.

The bags commonly used for such materials are made of kraft paper which is a tough and strong material. Usually in producing such bags, multi-ply layers of paper are formed into a continuous tube with the overlapping seams attached by pasting. For some bags, one of the layers is a special coated paper or other sheet mate-rial. Tube blanks in the form of lengths of tube corresponding to the length of the bag to be formed are cut from the tube, and the ends of the tube blanks are then folded to provide inwardly extending inner flaps at each corner and outer flaps which overlie each other and the inner flaps. All of the overlying flaps are attached to each other by pasting to close the ends of the bags, except that a filling opening is formed at one corner of the bag by leaving the inner flap at that corner unattached to the overlying outer flaps. A filling nozzle may then be inserted through the opening to fill the bag with particulate material, such as cement or fertilizer. After a bag has been filled, the filling nozzle is withdrawn and the inner flap pushes against the overlying outer flaps and acts as a valve to close the opening. Because of the irregular shape of the overlapping flaps, especially when multi ply bag tubes are used, a paper sleeve may be positioned within the opening forming a liner. The sleeve is attached to the inner and outer flaps with an extended free end adapted to fiex and conform to the overlapping flaps and thereby better seal the joint therebetween.

Bags of the above type are quite satisfactory for filling, storing and transporting the materials, but it is difiicult to open them for dumping or dispensing the material. The bag may be opened by pulling the overlapping flaps at one end of the bag but that is quite difiicult to accomplish. More often, the middle of the bag is cut transversely and the contents dumped. Also, with a bag of the above type, it is not possible to dispense a portion of the contents and then reclose it and the contents may not be poured from the bag in a controlled stream.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a bag of the type indicated which facilitates the dispensing of material therefrom while retaining the advantages of the prior bags. Another object is to provide improved bags of the type indicated which have pour spouts which may be easily and quickly manipulated to operative position for pouring the material from the bags. Another object is to provide such bag facilities for tearing the bag walls to destroy or fully open the bags so as to dump the contents. Still another object is to provide improved bags of the type indicated which are of simple construction and that may be made in substantially the same way on the same machines and at substantially the same cost as the prior bags. These and other objects will become more apparent from the following description and drawings in which like reference characters denote like parts throughout the several views. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not a definition of the limits of the invention, reference being had for this purpose to the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a tube or bag blank for a bag incorporating the novel features of the present invention and showing slits formed in the end portion of the blank;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of an end portion of the bag blank showing the initial fold in the end of the bag blank to form the inner valve flap and the location of the slits beyond the sides of the valve flap to provide a tongue forming a pouring spout;

FIGURE 3 is a perspectve view of a complete bag;

FIGURES 4 and 4A are sectional views upon the lines i -4 of FIGURE 3 showing the filling opening between the inner and outer flaps, respectively, with and without a filling nozzle inserted;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view through the end closure showing how a tab on the inner flap or tongue can be engaged between the thumb and forefinger for withdrawing the flap through the opening;

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of a portion of the closure at one side of the bag, showing how the inner flap or tongue is withdrawn through the filling opening to provide a pouring spout;

FIGURE 7 is a side elevation showing how the action of withdrawing the inner flap or tongue may be continued to tear open the entire side of the bag;

FIGURE 8 is a sectional view similar to FIGURE 4A, but showing another embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 9 is a sectional view on the line 99 of FIG- URE 8;

FIGURE 10 is a view similar to FIGURE 9 showing the inner flap or tongue withdrawn to form a pouring spout; and,

FIGURE 11 is a sectional view similar to FIGURE 8 of another embodiment of the invention.

Referring now to the drawings, the present invention is shown applied to a pasted-end, multi-wall bag 3 made from a tube blank 5. Such tube blanks 5 are made in a conventional manner in a machine which feeds a plurality of webs of kraft paper, either treated or untreated, through a tuber having tube-forming guides and in which the overlapping edges are adhesively attached to form a continuous tube of the desired number of plies. The tube so formed is flattened and sections of the tube, corresponding to the length of the bags to be formed, are severed successively from the continuous tube to form the bag blanks. One such bag blank 5 is illustrated in FIG- URE 1, and the opposite ends of the bag blank are thereafter folded into overlapping relationship to form end closures as shown in FIGURE 3. To simplify the crosssectioned showings, the plies forming each wall are shown in the drawings as having a single thickness.

To form an end closure, the lower left and righthand sides of the big blank 5 (FIGURE 1) are folded inwardly (FIGURE 3) toward each other to form inner flaps 6. The opposite side portions are then creased on lines 7 and 8 to form closure flaps 9 and 10 which are folded one over the other to overlie the inwardly folded end flaps 6 and form the closures 11. The overlying flaps 6, 9 and 10 are adhesively secured to each other to seal the joints between the flaps. However, the inner flap 6 at corner of the bag shown in FIGURE 2 is not secured to the overlying flaps 9 and 10, so that a filling opening 12 is provided therebetween through which a filling nozzle 13 may be inserted as illustrated in FIGURE 4. When the bag is filled, the inner flap 6 is pushed against flaps 9 and 10 and acts as a valve to close the filling opening 12.

The bag blank 5 (FIGURES 1 and 2) has slits 15 and 16 cut at the lower end thereof. FIGURE 1 shows only one slit 15, but the identical slit 16 is formed simultaneously in the opposite side of the continuous tube wall directly behind the slit 15. The entire end of the bag blank 5 is (see FIGURE 3) folded on the transverse crease lines 17, and the lower left hand corner of the blank (FIGURE 2) is folded inwardly to form the flap 6. The inwardly folded end splits at the slits 15 and 16 to from a rectangular tongue 18 which is part of flap 6 and has laterally extending wings 18a and 18b extending to the side edges 15a and 16a and is not attached to the contacting flaps 9 and 10. If the slits 15 and 16 were not present, the slit edges 15c and 15a, (and edges 16c and 16a) would be joined, and the fold edges 15:) and 16b of the inwardly folded end would continue at the same angle to the outer edges of the closure flaps 9 and 19. However, with the slits 15 and 16, the angularly related fold edges of the inwardly folded end extend only to meet the ends of the slit 15 or 16. The edges 15a and 16a extend transversely of the bag in parallel relationship and the forward edges 15c and 160 extend outwardly in alignment parallel to the side edges of the bag. It will be observed in FIGURE 2 that the edges 15a and 16a are spaced apart a distance greater than the spacing between the crease lines 7 and 8 so that the wings 18a and 18b extend beyond the central portion of the valve flap 6 and the crease lines 7 and 8, and overlie the edges of the side closure flaps 9 and 10.

Glued to the inner flap 6 is a rectangular sheet of flexible paper, preferably of slightly greater width than the distance between the crease lines 7 and 8, and extending at each end beyond the edges of flap 6 at portions 19a and 19b.

The end of the partially formed bag blank is closed by first folding the side flap 9 inwardly along the crease line 8 so that it overlies the inner flap 6, and then folding the opposite side closure flap 1t; over flap 9. Except at the rectangular area which contacts sheet 19, flap 10 has an adhesive coating 21 which adheres the flaps to each other and forms the closure 11 as illustrated in FIGURE 3. The right-angular edges 15c and 16c of the side closure flaps 9 and 19 formed by the slits 15 and 16 overlie each other in alignment to form an edge 21. At the right, the closure 11, and the folded ends of the closure 11 at the opposite end of the big blank are closed in the usual manner with the overlapping flaps 9 and adhesively attached together and to the inner flaps.

As a result of the construction and folding of the flaps 6, 9 and 11 as shown in FIGURE 2, the adhesively attached overlapping flaps 9 and 10 form an unattached top wall which may be moved away from the underlying flap 6 to form the filling opening 12 in the corner of the bag as illustrated in FIGURE 4. A filling nozzle 13 may be inserted through the opening for filling the bag with particulate material, and the air escapes in the usual manner, e.g., through small openings or perforations (not shown) in the adjacent wall area. It will be observed (FIGURE 5) that the upper end portion of the edge side wall 25 of bag 3 extends inwardly to form flap 6, and (FIGURES 4 and 4A) the top of one side wall 27 extends to the right and forms the intermediate fiap 9 and the top of the opposite side wall 28 extends to the left and forms the outer flap 10. Sheet 19 (FIGURE 5) overlies and is adhesively attached at 19c to flap 6 and has a free end portion 19a extending beyond the end of the flap, and has an outer tab 1% which projects to the left and is exposed (FIGURE 3) so that it may be gripped to withdraw the tongue 18.

Consider that the bag has been filled and that the filling nozzle 13 has been withdrawn (FIGURE 4) so that the material has spread the bag and the inner flap 6 is acting as a valve and engages the overlapping closure flaps 9 and 10 to close the filling opening. The flexible sheet 19 closely conforms to the contour of the flaps 9 and 10 to augment the sealing action of flap 6. Wings 18a and 18b of tongue 18 then extend beyond the crease lines 7 and 8 and underlie flaps 9 and 10.

When the material in the bag is to be used, flap 6 may be withdrawn to the position of FIGURE 6 to act as a pouring spout or the bag may be torn open as shown in FIGURE 7 to dump the material. In either case, tab 1% of sheet 19 is gripped (see FIGURE 5) between the forefinger and thumb of one hand (numbered 31), and the tab is pulled to the left. That pulling action is transmitted at 19c through the adhesive 20 to the right-hand edge of tongue 18 of flap 6 and causes that end of the tongue to be turned upwardly. The wings 18a and 18b on the tongue are folded from the plane of the central portion of the tongue. However, the turning up of the central portion of the tongue causes it to peel back, and the tongue is withdrawn from the opening 12 easily and with a smooth progressive action. The end portion 19a on the sheet 19 assists in insuring the proper action. As the pulling continues, the fiap 6 is completely withdrawn and takes the position of FIGURE 6 to form the spout 30 with the wings 18a and 18b acting as side walls to the spout. Sheet 19 peels away from the bottom of the spout, thus leaving a neat and firm spout arrangement, and the flow can be readily controlled.

When only part of the material is to be poured from the bag initially, the spout is tucked back int-o the opening 12 and may be withdrawn again for later use. When all of the material is to be dumped from the bag at one time, the spout is grasped and pulled away, thus tearing the bag lengthwise as illustrated in FIGURE 7. The slits 15 and 16 provide initial tear lines which are continued because the bag is made from paper with the machine direction lengthwise of the bag.

In the embodiment of FIGURES 8, 9 and 10, bag 3 is provided with a paper sleeve 35 which is used in the same manner as sheet 19 in FIGURES 1 to 7. In this construction the bottom of the sleeve 35 is adhesively attached to the inner flap 6 to provide an inner end 36 and an outer gripping tab 37. The upper side of the sleeve may be unattached or, if sifting of the material is apt to be a problem, it may be lightly tacked to the intermediate flap 9 with an adhesive which will release when the sleeve is withdrawn. When the tongue 18 is withdrawn, the spout 30 is formed and the sleeve 35 is peeled from the tongue as with sheet 19.

In FIGURE 11 bag 5 is provided with a sleeve 40 of an extremely thin plastic, such as polyethylene film, which is adhesively attached to valve flap 6. There is also a paperboard at the opposite side. Backing sheet 41 above the sleeve which is adhesively attached to the upper surface of the sleeve and is adhesively attached lightly to the overlapping closure flap 9. Sleeve 40 and sheet 41 are pulled to withdraw flap 6 and form a spout as with the constructions of FIGURES 1 to 10, pouring spout.

The sheet 19 in FIGURES 1 to 7 and the sleeves 35 and 40 of FIGURES 8 to 11 act to assist in sealing their valves after their valves have been filled. Hence, in each instance the bag performs during filling and shopping in the same manner as similar bags without the pouring spout feature of the present invention.

The present invention provides constructions in bags which facilitate dispensing material therefrom, and which also perform important functions during filling and shipping the bags. The present invention also provides a bag which may be easily and quickly manipulated to convert the flap structure into a pouring spout arrangement. The present invention also facilitates the tearing of the wall of the bag throughout its length to either fully open the bag or destroy it.

While a single embodiment of the invention is herein illustrated and described it will be understood that changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the elements without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Therefore, without further limitation in this respect the invention is defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A bag having a continuous wall forming a tube with end edges, the wall at each end of the tube being folded to provide opposed and inwardly-extending inner fiaps at the opposite ends of the said end edge and opposed side flaps folded inwardly one over the other and over the inner flaps, said side flaps and one of the inner flaps being attached to each other to form a closure, one of said inner flaps being formed by a rectangular tongue with a free end and an attached end by which it is integral with the adjacent portion of the bag tube, said tongue having side edges formed respectively by a pair of slits in the bag tube Wall extending from the said end edge, said tongue being unattached except at said attached end and cooperating with the said flaps to form a valve opening through which material may be delivered to the interior of the bag and through which said tongue may be withdrawn to form a pouring spout, and valve means connected to said tongue adjacent said free end and adapted to be grasped and pulled outwardly to withdraw said tongue from said opening.

2. A bag as described in claim 1 wherein said tongue has side edge portions which are folded towards each other and which provide side walls for the pouring spout.

3. A bag in accordance with claim 1 in which the slits are parallel to and located outwardly beyond the folds between the inner and side flaps to provide a reversed fold between the tongue and said side flaps when the tongue is withdrawn to form a pouring spout.

4. A bag in accordance with claim 1 in which said valve means is of relatively thin material which is adapted to flex to conform to the contour of the overlapping flaps to seal the opening therebetween.

5. A pasted-end bag in accordance with claim 1 in which said slits provide initial tear lines to facilitate ripping a strip of the bag wall therefrom lengthwise of the bag to completely open or destroy the bag.

6. A pasted-end bag having a continuous wall forming a tube, the Wall at each end of the tube being folded to provide opposed and inwardly-extending inner flaps and opposed side fiaps folded inwardly one over the other and over the inner flaps, said side flaps and one of the inner flaps being attached to each other by adhesive to form a closure, one of the inner flaps being unattached to the overlying flaps to provide an opening therebetween through which material may be delivered to the interior of the bag, said unattached inner flap cooperating with the side flaps to form a valve for closing the opening, the end of the bag tube wall at said unattached inner flap having a pair of slits extending parallel to the side edge from the end extending from the edge thereof and forming said unattached inner flap into a tongue which may be pulled out from under said side flaps to form a pouring spout and a sleeve attached to said unattached inner flap intermediate the ends of said sleeve and forming a tab adapted to be manually gripped to pull the tongue out to form said pouring spout.

7. A bag in accordance with claim 6 in which the slits are located at the sides of the unattached inner flap and extend from the inner edge of the flap to the edges of said side flaps.

8. A bag in accordance with claim 6 in which said sleeve is attached to said inner flap and detachably connected to the overlying flap.

9. A pasted-end bag in accordance with claim 6 in which said sleeve is of thin synthetic plastic material.

10. A bag in accordance with claim 9 in which said sleeve is attached to said inner flap on one side, a back-up sheet of paper attached to the side of the sleeve 0pposite said inner flap, said back-up sheet being detachably connected to the overlying flaps.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,102,766 12/ 1937 Tooker. 2,696,342 12/1954 Toborg 229-625 3,081,930 3/1963 Owens 229 66 3,216,647 11/ 1965 Arnold 229-62.5

FOREIGN PATENTS 631,440 11/ 1949 Great Britain. 628,683 11/1961 Italy.

JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

GEORGE O. RALSTON, Examiner. 

1. A BAG HAVING A CONTINUOUS WALL FORMING A TUBE WITH END EDGES, THE WALL AT EACH END OF THE TUBE BEING FOLDED TO PROVIDE OPPOSED AND INWARDLY-EXTENDING INNER FLAPS AT THE OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE SAID END EDGE AND OPPOSED SIDE FLAPS FOLDED INWARDLY ONE OVER THE OTHER AND OVER THE INNER FLAPS, SAID SIDE FLAPS AND ONE OF THE INNER FLAPS BEING ATTACHED TO EACH OTHER TO FORM A CLOSURE, ONE OF SAID INNER FLAPS BEING FORMED BY A RECTANGULAR TONGUE WITH A FREE END AND AN ATTACHED END BY WHICH IT IS INTEGRAL WITH THE ADJACENT PORTION OF THE BAG TUBE, SAID TONGUE HAVING SIDE EDGES FORMED RESPECTIVELY BY A PAIR OF SLITS IN THE BAG TUBE WALL EXTENDING FROM THE SAID END EDGE, SAID TONGUE BEING UNATTACHED EXCEPT AT SAID ATTACHED END AND COOPERATING WITH THE SAID FLAPS TO FORM A VALVE OPENING THROUGH WHICH MATERIAL MAY BE DELIVERED TO THE INTERIOR OF THE BAG AND THROUGH WHICH SAID TONGUE MAY BE WITHDRAWN TO FORM A POURING SPOUT, AND VALVE MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID TONGUE ADJACENT SAID FREE END AND ADAPTED TO BE GRASPED AND PULLED OUTWARDLY TO WITHDRAW SAID TONGUE FROM SAID OPENING. 